Don't Give Up In Your Storm: God Is In Control In the Storms of Your Life

By Gwendolyn Dickens Bowen

The Storms Of Life can prove to be seemingly unbearable. So often, our major shortcoming is simply to doubt that we could go through life experiences and come out of them as refined and triumphant. Jesus never promised that our life would be easy-just fulfilli

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elite Publications
• Release date: Apr 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736833834

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Introduction

I want to encourage you to trust God! Are you in trouble and need Jesus to intervene on your behalf? Have you prayed, but can’t seem to hear an answer? Do you feel like screaming, Help, Jesus, I need You! Let me tell you something. After Jesus defeated the devil and left the earth, the Bible says He sat down on the right hand of the Father. He sat down expecting all His enemies to be made His footstool (Acts 2:34-35).

So, just what does that mean?

It means Jesus is not pacing around wringing His hands. He’s seated, confident in His victory. So, you and I need to start acting that way too. We need to talk and act like Jesus has actually taken authority over the devil. We shouldn’t go around crying and acting like Jesus never went to the Cross. We shouldn’t scream and carry on and wait for someone to come get the devil off of us.

No! It’s done, says Jesus. So, we need to learn to act as though it’s done as far as we’re concerned too.

We need to say to the Devil, You take your dirty hands off me and my loved ones. My words have power!  I speak it and it is so. Don’t you realize that Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Father?

Remember this: You don’t look up at the devil, you look down at him. He’s under your feet!

In the midst of all you may be going through, right now, you must have the same confidence.  The WORD of God says so. In Psalm 112, it says that the man who fears the LORD and delights greatly in His commandments shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies. So, we must know that our heart must be fixed and fixed on Jesus!" We can be sure that the victory is His. Once you have that kind of assurance, nothing will be able to move you.

Whatever It Takes, Lord

Do you ever feel like you're going in circles and not making any progress? At least not the kind of progress you were expecting.

Are the constant appeals of our world pulling you in a million different ways, causing you to question if you're headed in the right direction?

What about those plans and dreams you want to fulfill? And yes, life is confusing at times. And most days it seems like you're just surviving instead of living out those dreams or accomplishing your goals.  Why? Because of the numerous distractions, too many choices and oh, those endless interruptions.

Have there been days whereas you’ve felt like one foot was fixed to the floor, while your other foot scurried in every direction. You were giving it all you had and some.  It was as though you were burning a lot of energy but going nowhere. Can you relate?

How awesome it would be to wake up every morning and be assured you're on the right path towards your goals? To know with certainty that you're headed in the right direction. To feel confident with each step, without constantly questioning yourself.

Just how many times you have second-guessed a decision you were confident about? You knew in your heart of hearts that you wanted so desperately to follow God's will and you had prayed, but somehow that feeling of uncertainty, not wanting to make a wrong move became so much a part of your being. And as you wrestled with those feelings of indecision and insecurity, there was that innate feeling that led you to seek God's Word for help. The truth can always be found in the Bible. Remember, that’s your roadmap, your GPS for clear direction.

King David composed these words in a beautiful Psalm, tucked within the pages of the Old Testament:

Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you (Psalms 25:45).

These verses reveal David's humble and teachable heart. He wanted to be guided by God and led by His truth. Is that you? David knew God was his Savior and placed all his hope in the One who created the right path for him.

Do you feel a need to be guided? Then make Psalm 25 verses 8-10 a part of your daily meditation. Here you will find promises you can claim for your life:

The LORD is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands (Psalms 25:8-10 NLT).

David in these verses was making us aware that when our hearts are humble and truly seeking God's will, we can be confident of this:

1. God will always show us what is right for us.

2. When we get sidetracked, God will direct us back to the right path.

3. We are not alone. God leads and teaches us along the way.

4. God leads those who obey Him with unfailing love and faithfulness.

If you're unsure about some things in your life, don't wait another day to figure it out on your own. Ensure your heart is in the right place of humility, and then ask God to help you. Once you've asked, trust that God is directing you.

If you know you've gotten on the wrong path, seek God for direction instead of looking to the world for answers. As you take steps to follow and obey God's voice, He will lovingly show you the way.

God Wants to Enlarge Your Heart

Are you at a point of discouragement? Does your capacity to delight in God seem small? If your answer is yes, then I ask of you to not beat yourself up with condemnation. Know that those moments come for all of us who profess and are doing our best to live Christian lives. We all need and want more love for God.

And so, allow me to share some good news: God wants to enlarge our capacity for joy-filled love for him. He expresses this clearly through prayers in Scripture. You know, I like the Apostle Paul.  I like him because he wasn’t selfish, he loved to pray for more, both for himself and for his churches. This is how he prayed for the Philippians:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

And what about his prayer for the Ephesians:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

Isn’t that hopeful? Paul wants the Ephesians to see and know more glory so that they will experience more joy in the gracious, generous inheritance that God is lavishing upon them. And later in the same letter he prays that according to the riches of (the Father’s) glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

This was not only Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians; it’s God’s desire for you and me. He wants us to have more strength, enlarged capacities, to know Christ’s love and enjoy more of his fullness. Because, more of God’s fullness means greater love for him. And greater love for him means more delight in him. And the greater our delight in him, the easier his yoke and the less burdensome his commandments become, for God has enlarged our heart.

We are not destined to live the rest of our lives with small love and small faith. God wants more for us, and he wants us to ask him for it with persistence, even boldness.

Isaiah 40:31: But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.

So, let’s ask and not lose heart until he answers.

Can You Trust God, In Spite Of?

But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the LORD because He is good to me. (Psalms 13:5-6).

There are times when life is hard, when sorrow fills our hearts, when we wonder if God is even there for us. In times of suffering and struggle, can we still trust in God's love? Can we rejoice? Can we sing with gladness to him?

For in Psalm 13, you might think that David, the composer of this Psalm, was experiencing one of those times of obvious blessing. But, then there's that word...But. You know how we can use that